Northampton Electronic Collection of Theses and Research

Bullying within friendships among primary school pupils

Maunder, R. and Monks, C. (2015) Bullying within friendships among primary school pupils. Paper presented to: 17th European Conference on Developmental Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal, 08-12 September 2015. (Unpublished)

Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Abstract: It has been found that children tend to be friends with peers who assume similar roles to them in bullying situations (e.g. Huitsing et al., 2014; Sijtsema et al., 2014). It has also been reported that who children are friends with, and who bullies them, are not necessarily different individuals (e.g. Mishna et al, 2008). This paper will report on research into the peer group networks of primary school children, and links between friendships and bullying. Using a peer nomination method, 314 children (aged 9-11 yrs) from 5 primary schools in England identified who their friends were and nominated peers for particular roles (aggressors, defenders, victims). Children reported who they were aggressive towards and by whom they were victimised. They also completed a Friendship Quality Questionnaire to measure the quality of their relationship with their best friend. Using Social Network Analysis (SNA) we examine whether children who are similar in aggression are close to each other in popularity and best friend networks. We then go on to report whether bullies are aggressive towards their friends in two ways; first using a MANOVA to compare the subscales on the friendship qualities questionnaire in relation to the role taken in bullying to examine whether bullies report more conflict in their friendships than others. Secondly, using SNA we report on whether children identified as bullies are more likely to bully those they have identified as most liked or as best friend. The paper highlights the complexity of children’s peer relationships, and how positive relationships, negative interactions and bullying behaviour can co-occur. We will discuss the implications of our findings for schools and educational practitioners.
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology > BF712 Developmental psychology > BF723 Child psychology
L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB3013 Classroom management and student behaviour > LB3013.32 Bullying in schools
B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology > BF636 Applied psychology > BF637.B85 Bullying
Creators: Maunder, Rachel and Monks, Claire
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes: University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Research Centre > Institute of Health and Wellbeing > Centre for Applied Mental Health Research
University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Research Centre > Institute of Health and Wellbeing > Centre for Family Life
University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Research Group > Social and Cultural Research in Psychology Group
University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > School of Social Sciences (to 2016)
University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Faculty of Health & Society > Psychology
Faculties > Faculty of Health & Society > Psychology
Research Centres > Centre for Health Sciences and Services
Research Centres > Centre for Psychology and Social Sciences
Date: 11 September 2015
Date Type: Presentation
Event Title: 17th European Conference on Developmental Psychology
Event Dates: 08-12 September 2015
Event Location: University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
Event Type: Conference
Language: English
Status: Unpublished
Refereed: Yes
Related URLs:
URI: http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/7760

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